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Appeared on: Thursday, October 31, 2002
52X CD-RW Roundup Vol1

1. Introduction - AOpen CRW5224

52X
Roundup Vol.1 - Page 1

- Introduction

Many manufacturers currently ship 48X-recording solutions, while the next
generation of 52X recorders make its appearance in the market. Users are wondering
about the need of such high recording speeds, while its already hard enough
to find high recording speed certified CD-R media. The writing quality and the
wide media compatibility is probably one of the most important features of the
upcoming 52X recorders. The adoption of US-RW (24X) format will please many
users that use re-writeable media for their daily use. In this roundup, we (p-)
review two 52X recorders from AOpen and Sony in our usual exhausting tests.
How faster the 52 X recording can be than the existing 48X recorders?

- AOpen CRW5224

The CRW5224 would be the flagship for AOpen in the coming months. Currently
the CRW4850 is sold at a low price and the CRW5224 plans to increase both the
writing/re-writing and reading speeds to give the ultimate recording machine.
AOpen as with previou models, still use RICOH chipsets. The new (RL5E945 and
RL3E804) supports up to 52X recording/reading speeds and the new US-RW (UltraSpeed
Re-Writeable) format. The tested drive is an engineering sample
(final hardware) and the posted results should be looked with interest since
firmware is still under development and performance would be optimised till
the drive hit the market.

- Specifications

The AOpen CRW5224 supports CAV recording technology for reading/re-writing
and recording. The drive's features as Nero Info Tool reports are:

The drive supports 52X maximum reading / writing and 24X re-writing speeds.
JustLink and JustSpeed technologies are present to prevent the buffer underrun
problems and ensure the burning quality. The buffer is only 2MB and reading
of CD-Text, CD+G is supported. Nero Info Tool reports that C2 error information
is also supported but its accuracy would be examined later. Lastly Mt. Rainier
is present, for the first time in an AOpen recorder.

The following pictures show the drive's supported reading/writing speeds:

As with previous AOpen drives, the default read speed is 40x, when pushing
Eject button for 5 sec will change the max read speed to 52x. At that time LED
will brink 2 times slowly. When 52x max read speed mode, ejecting a disc will
result the max read speed to 40x mode from 52x mode. With the beta firmware,
the drive worked always at the maximum speed (52X) without the special 'Turbo'
mode

LED behavior

1. LED blinking - during track at once, disc at once, format, erase recording,
the blinking interval is 2 second including ON is 1 sec. and OFF is 1 sec..
2. LED ON - when device is busy status such as seek, audio play, read, packet
write,
load/eject TOC/PMA read and etc.
3. LED OFF - except for above status, led light is always off.

- Recording/Re-writing speeds

The AOpen CRW5224 supports 52X with the use of CAV recording technology. Almost
all manufacturers, except TEAC, using CAV for the 48X recorders. We were curious
to see how the new AOpen drive would perform compared with other 48X drives.
As Nero CD Speed reviled, the drive starts writing at 23.10X and gradually ends
at the 52.23X speed, giving an average of 39.52X. This result was the best we
had using various media with Prodisc 40X certified media. With other media the
average writing speed were from 39.08X~39.39X.

When using a US-RW media, the CRW5224 will start burning at 11.31X and gradually
ends at 24.94X. That gives an average of 18.91X, which is much lower than what
Plextor PX-W4824A and YAMAHA CRW-F1 series gave (23-24X P-CAV). We have noticed
the same performance also with CD-R media. We don't know if the retail drive
will have the same performance, but 18.91X is slight higher than 16X...

- The package

We got the bare drive without any software/media attached. The retail package
will include the recording software from Ahead (Nero, InCD), 52X CD-R and 24X
US-RW media, IDE cable, mounting screws etc... The drive expected to hit the
market around middle of November.

On the front panel we see the "JustLink", "US-RW" and
"AOpen" logos. The eject/next buttons, volume selector, and the headphone
jack are also present, as usual in the E-IDE models.

When the disc tray or disc is being accessed, the green light shines. Even
when a disc is loaded or a disc is not being accessed, the light goes out. When
audio playing is in progress, the indicator blinks. When an illegal disc is
loaded or some hardware trouble occurs, the indicator blinks quickly. When writing
CDs the led will blink orange. We did noticed a delay with the response of the
eject button but then again could be a problem of the engineering sample.

On the rear panel will find the power connector, the IDE cable connector,
jumpers for setting up the MASTER/SLAVE/CABLE select status and, the analog/SPDIF
connectors. The three jumpers on the right are used to set the drive's ATA working
mode setting. The drive is set on "DMA mode" by default; you can set
your drive on "UDMA" mode by removing the jumper.

On the top of the drive we can see the model's codename "CRW5224"
and the "Engineering Sample" unit.

After removing the screws on the button we can easily see the drive's internal
design (attention this voids your warranty!).

The drive is build around two new RICOH chipsets (RL5E945 and RL3E804)

- Installation

The AOpen CRW5224 was installed as a Master in the primary IDE BUS. The drive
worked in UDMA-33 mode. After booting, it identified itself as an "AOPEN
CD-RW CRW5224". We used Nero v5.5.9.14, CloneCD v4.0.1.10 and Ahead
InCD v3.5.16 for the recording tests. Within Nero, under drive properties you
can disable "JustSpeed" to enable the maximum burning speed (52X)
with all CD-R media.

The drive came with v0.88 installed firmware. We got a newer revision (v0.91)
that was installed and used for all the tests.

After all tests finished, a newer (v0.95) firmware arrived, that was used
to re-test mostly the data/cd-r/hs-rw reading tests and also to check the negative
findings of the already finished tests (with v0.91). There was a performance
drawback with the latest v0.95 and some changes in the writing strategy of the
drive and probably the final firmware will fine tune better the drive.

2. Introduction - Sony CRX220E1

52X
Roundup Vol.1 - Page 2

- SONY CRX220E1

This may surprise several users, but this model actually doesn't exist yet.
SONY currently sells CRX215E1 that supports 48X/24/48X re-writing speeds and
the upcoming CRX220 series are not yet announced. However with the use of special
firmware we (and you) could turn either a CRX210E1 (48/12/48) or a CRX215E1
(48/24/48) into a CRX220 (52/24/52) drive.

The benefit from this upgrade, beside the increased writing/re-writing/reading
speeds, is the fact that with this firmware the drive works at max speed. The
CRX210E1 and CRX215E working default at 40X and with the use of 'Turbo' mode
are reaching the 48X writing/reading speeds. The negative with this is that
user has to turn on the 'Turbo' mode every time inserts a disc, which
is at least annoying...

- The drive

The SONY CRX220E1 supports CAV recording technology for reading/re-writing
and recording. The drive's features as Nero Info Tool reports are:

The drive supports 52X maximum reading / writing and 24X re-writing speeds.
PowerBurn and SmartBurn technologies are present to prevent the buffer underrun
problems and ensure the burning quality. The buffer is only 2MB and reading
of CD-Text, CD+G is supported. Nero Info Tool reports that C2 error information
is also supported but its accuracy would be examined later. Lastly Mt. Rainier
is present.

The following pictures show the drive's supported reading/writing speeds:

- Recording/Re-writing speeds

The SONY CRX220E1 supports 52X writing with the use of CAV recording technology.
As Nero CD Speed unveiled, the drive starts writing at 23.30X and gradually
ends at the 52.54X speed, giving an average of 39.77X.

When using a US-RW media, the CRX220E1 will start burning at 10.70X and gradually
end at 23.99X. That gives an average of 18.19X that is much lower than
what both Plextor PX-W4824A and YAMAHA CRW-F1 series gave in previous tests
(23.78X average!).

- The package

After removing the screws on the button we can easily see the drive's internal
design (attention this voids your warranty!).

Noticed anything in the above picture? Lets zoom at the bottom. Something
interesting seems to be there.

The "LTR-32123S-A Rev: 01" words are printed in the circuit. Its
not a secret that SONY and many other manufacturers use LiteOn OEM drives. As
it seems the 48X recorders are based in the same circuits with the 32X series,
not in the exact same design (we confirmed that after opening a LTR-32123S)
The drive is build around MediaTek series chipsets (MT1518E and MT1516E).

- Installation

The SONY CRX220E1 was installed as a Master in the primary IDE BUS. The drive
worked in UDMA-33 mode. After booting, it identified itself as a "SONY
CD-RW CRX220E1". We used Nero v5.5.9.14, CloneCD v4.0.1.10 and Ahead
InCD v3.5.16 for the recording tests.

The firmware version installed was v6S.02. Nero Burning Rom reports that
the drive also supports the "SmartBurn" feature, for accurate burnings
to various media. When you un-tick the "SmartBurn" box, a warning
message comes up with information about the usability of this option. In short
words, you can write every media at 48X when "SmartBurn" is disabled!

3. Data Reading Tests

The faster drive comes from SONY. The CRX220E1 had an average reading speed
of 38.25X, while the CRW5224 was slight slower with 38.05X. The SONY CRX210E1
stays behind with 36.89X, due to lower maximum reading speed (48X).

The seek times of the two Sony drives are almost identical, while the AOpen
drive seems improvement to reach them. Both Sony drives have 84msec for the
Random seek mode, and 141msec for the Full mode. The AOpen drive has almost
double seek times.

The AOpen drive is the faster drive with 37.61X average reading speed, while
both Sony drive have similar performance with 31.87X.

4. Error Correction Tests

52x
Roundup Vol. 1 - Page 4

Error Correction Tests

In the following tests we examine the reading error correction capabilities
of the SONY CRX-220E1 and AOpen CRW5224.

- EAC CD-R Test Disc

- Introduction

We used the testing methodology as described in EAC website. The CD-R test
disc includes 5 scratches and a black triangle defect. Using the "c2extract.exe"
build-in software and with the max reading speed of each drive we ripped the
disc. The attached analyse.exe software used to get the necessary results.

The graph tells a lot about the abilities of the drive. The quality of the
optical system (and the error correction capabilities of the firmware) can be
estimated by checking the time positions the errors start, during reading. Higher
wedges mean lower error correction capabilities.

The grid of the graph has the following means:

The X position of a grid line is always a start of a new minute position
on the CD (in play time, up to 74 min).

The Y axis shows the dB (A) value of the error in the extracted file.
dB (A) is a weighting/curve that is not affected much in high and very low
frequencies, but mainly in medium frequencies, using an A-weighting curve.

The graph shows a range of 6 dB (A) down to -120.0 dB (A). Each line represents
a 6 dB(A) volume. (6 dB(A) louder means that the sound is two times louder)

" For the test CD, a wedge below -60 dB (A) is quite acceptable for
error correction. Anything higher than -42 dB (A) is quite critical, and you
would hear that in any case. Of course that also depends on the surrounding
music/noise. For example, if the rest of the song is absolutely silent, you
will probably even hear a -96 dB (A) - only by using 24 bit audio files. If
it is hidden between a -6 dB of music, you will probably not hear a -72 dB
(A) or even -66 dB (A)...

- Explanation

After the analyze.exe software finishes, we get a detailed report about various
errors:

- Errors total tells about the total number of wrong stereo samples.
This includes areas of wrong samples that may include some correct samples.

- Errors Loudness is the number of FFT analysis done. For that the average
and maximum value tells the power difference of the two signals. No acoustic
model is used for this calculation, so the audible error may differ from these
values.

- Error Muting gives information about error hiding. On bad errors (or
bad error hiding techniques), the last error free sample is held for some time
until a new valid sample is found. The number of these mutings is given as first
result, following the average and maximum sample length of these mutings.

- Skips are occurring when the sync was lost and the drive had to reposition
again (and start on a slightly different position). Non-accurate stream devices
would loose the sync very often and smaller and bigger skips occur (thus samples
are missing or extraneous). The average and maximum values denote the length
in samples of such skips.

- Total Score is calculated according to the previous errors. The higher
score a drive gets the better!

The C2 error graphs of EAC measure three C2 results:

Total number of C2 errors (of 16 bit blocks).

Number of C2 flagged 16 bit blocks that are identical to original WAV. This
is number is usually not zero, as even the drive flagged samples to be wrong,
they can be with some probability corrected correctly nevertheless...

Number of differences to the original WAV that are not C2 flagged (also
16 bit blocks)

As EAC author mentions " This third one is the most interesting figure,
it will show how much blocks are going unreported by C2 error correction...The
16 bit blocks (instead of 8-bit, the native format of C2) was because of some
drives interpolate a (mono) sample, etc. but only flag the part with the read
error on it (but changed both parts). Thus only 16 bit blocks are checked for
consistency. It is enough if one of the two bits is flagged to accept that any
of the two bytes are wrong..."

- Test Results (Max Reading)

Errors total

Num: 30743

Errors (Loudness) dB(A)

Num: 9687

Avg:-83.9 dB(A)

Max: -33.9 dB(A)

Error Muting Samples

Num: 86

Avg:1.6 Samples

Max: 6 Samples

Skips Samples

Num: 0

Avg: 0 Samples

Max:0 Samples

Total Test Result

81.5 points (of 100.0 maximum)

In the maximum ripping speed, the AOpen CRW5224 drive showed a good behaviour
and got a score of 81.5 out of 100 (perfect).

Errors total

Num: 599

Errors (Loudness) dB(A)

Num: 823

Avg:-86.2 dB(A)

Max: -63.7 dB(A)

Error Muting Samples

Num: 0

Avg: 0 Samples

Max: 0 Samples

Skips Samples

Num: 0

Avg: 0 Samples

Max:0 Samples

Total Test Result

88.8 points (of 100.0 maximum)

In the maximum ripping speed, the SONY CRX-220E1 performed better and corrected
the five scratches while corrected some of the data in the black triangle. It
gets a score 88.8 out of 100.

- ABEX TCD-721R

- Introduction

This test disc includes artificial scratches with lengths from 1.8 mm to 3.0
mm.

Using the ABEX TCD-714 as the reference disc, we created the reference.wav
file that is needed for the comparison. Using the c2extract.exe software and
by setting the maximum reading speed with Nero Drive speed we ripped the disc.
The attached analyse.exe software gave the comparison results.

- Test Results (Max speed)

The ABEX 721R test disc is very hard for almost all drives and the AOpen CRW5224
couldn't be an exception. The error spikes reached -11.7 dB(a) at several points,
while we have an average 6.8 skipped samples. Not a good performance and a low
63.1 score.

Errors total

Num: 1189862

Errors (Loudness) dB(A)

Num: 62372

Avg:-73.4 dB(A)

Max: -11.7 dB(A)

Error Muting Samples

Num: 7364

Avg: 2.0 Samples

Max: 297 Samples

Skips Samples

Num: 0

Avg: 6.8 Samples

Max: 24 Samples

Total Test Result

63.1 points (of 100.0 maximum)

Errors total

Num: 1440376

Errors (Loudness) dB(A)

Num: 139172

Avg:-78.7 dB(A)

Max: -35.5 dB(A)

Error Muting Samples

Num:4908

Avg: 1.0 Samples

Max: 9 Samples

Skips Samples

Num: 0

Avg: .0 Samples

Max: 0 Samples

Total Test Result

75.3 points (of 100.0 maximum)

The SONY drive kept the error spikes lower than the AOpen and got a score of
75.3 out of 100.

- ABEX TCD-726

- Introduction

The ABEX TCD-726 includes three kinds of defects, interruption, black dots
and fingerprints. The interruption defects are sized from 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm.
The black dots are from 0.4 mm to 1.0 mm and the fingerprints range from 65
to 75 micrometers.

- Test Results (Max Speed)

The AOpen drive performed quite well and gave few errors getting an 87.6 score.

Errors total

Num: 1338

Errors (Loudness) dB(A)

Num: 349

Avg:-90.4 dB(A)

Max: -46.7 dB(A)

Error Muting Samples

Num: 4

Avg: 2 Samples

Max: 5

Skips Samples

Num: 0

Avg: 0 Samples

Max: 0 Samples

Total Test Result

87.6 points (of 100.0 maximum)

Errors total

Num: 146

Errors (Loudness) dB(A)

Num: 281

Avg:-73.1 dB(A)

Max: -24.5 dB(A)

Error Muting Samples

Num: 0

Avg: 0.0 Samples

Max: 0

Skips Samples

Num: 2

Avg: 480 Samples

Max: 480 Samples

Total Test Result

78.3 points (of 100.0 maximum)

In the maximum ripping speed, the SONY CRX220E1 got a score of 76.3 due to
high number of skipped samples.

- Conclusion

Test Disc

Reading Speed

SONY CRX-220E1

AOpen CRW5224

Score

EAC CD-R

Max

88.8

81.5

ABEX TCD-721R

Max

75.3

63.1

ABEX TCD-726

Max

76.3

87.6

Average Score

80.23

77.40

The SONY CRX220E1 got a higher overall score of 80.23, while the AOpen CRW5224
got 77.40. The EAC results are much different from the CDSpeed results due to
different way of calculated errors.

- C2 Information accuracy

- Introduction

The Advanced DAE Error Correction tests are available in the latest version
of Nero CD Speed. With the A-BEX TCD-721R disc, we can test the drive's C2 error
information accuracy. First we created the image with the A-BEX TCD-714 test
disc. Then we tested with the Advanced DAE Error Correction test, the C2 error
information accuracy.

Note that the C2 accuracy test works only with drive that can report C2 errors
according to the MMC standard. If the drive doesn't report C2 errors according
to the MMC, but does support C2 errors, the software will give a 0 score, which
is not correct, but also users couldn't use the C2 error information with any
public available software (like DAE rippers).

According to the CD Speed author, the C2 accuracy should be very high (99%)
to be useful. An explanation of the reported C2 errors follows:

C2 Errors is the amount of errors reported by the drive.

Compare Errors are the differences between the original image file and the
data on the test disc.

C2 Missed are present when the drive did not report an error while there
was a difference between the image file and the test disc (ie. comparison
bit to bit).

The "Quality" test score table is shown below:

0-50: bad

51-60: not so good

61-70: ok

71-80: good

81-90: very good

91-100: excellent!

- Test Results (MAX Speed)

The C2 accuracy of the AOpen CRW5224 was very bad since the drive got a 26.38%
score. The quality score was also very bad with 0 score due to high sync error
number (22506!). While the drive got a 0 score with the CDSpeed, the EAC results
are much different. This happens since according to the CDSpeed when so many
sync errors occur, C2 accuracy cannot be measured.

The C2 accuracy of the SONY CRX-220E1 was perfect since the drive got a 100%
score. The quality score was very good with 84.3.

A newer version of EAC's analyser software also offers C2 accuracy %. Both
results are posted below. The SONY CRX220E1 got a 99.99% C2 accuracy, while
the AOpen CRW5224 got only 66.87%. The different results in C2% accuracy between
the CDSpeed and EAC are

Test Disc

Reading Speed

SONY CRX-220E1

AOpen CRW5224

Score

EAC CD-R

Max

100

66.9

ABEX TCD-721R

Max

99.8

67.0

ABEX TCD-726

Max

100

66.7

Average Score

99.9%

66.87

5. CloneCD Reading Tests

52x
Roundup Vol. 1- Page 5

CloneCD Reading
Tests

- Procedure

We used CloneCD and 4 original CDs - Serious Sam 2 (SafeDisc 2), Desperados
(LaserLock 2), V-Rally 2 Expert (SecuROM 2) and NBA Jam Extreme (PSX) - in order
to test the reading times of the drive. We also tested the reading performance
with backups of the original CDs, since the reading speed varies between original
and backup media. The following picture show the drive(s) reading/writing features
as CloneCD reports:

- PSX Pressed Media

For this test we used the PSX game 'NBA Jam Extreme' and we ripped the image
to the HD with CloneCD. The Sony CRX220E1 seems improved over the CRX210E1 drive
by cutting down 20secs. The AOpen CRW5224 is the slowest drive with 176secs.

- SafeDisc v.2 Results

All drives performed low with SafeDisc 2 discs. The faster drive was Sony
CRX210E1 and the lowest AOpen CRX5224. Note that when using other software ,like
Alcohol 120%, the same task will be performed at almost full speed (with the
AOpen drive) as the following performance graph shows!

With the Sony drive, the speed graph is somewhat slower, since the drive
doesn't skip bad sector so fast...

- LaserLock v.2 Results

The SONY CRX220E1 is improved over the SONY CRX220E1. The AOpen
CRW5224 still performs low...

- SecuROM v.2 Results

All drives can read SubChannel data from Data/Audio tracks. The two SONY
drives got the first two places, while the AOpen 5224 comes last.

6. DAE Tests

52x
Roundup Vol. 1- Page 6

DAE Tests

- DAE features

AOpen
CRW5224

SONY
CRX220E1

- Pressed AudioCD

The AOpen drive got the first place with 35.5X. The DAE reading speeds reached
52X, while the SONY CRX220E1 got the last place with 34.2X. The CRX210E1 was
faster by 0.6X.

- Audio CD-R media

With CD-R media, the AOpen 5224 had the same performance (35.5X), while
the SONY CRX220E1 stayed in the second place with 32.9X.

- EAC Secure Extract Ripping mode

EAC's secure extract ripping mode results, which ensures maximum produced
WAV quality. Note that for each drive we used the built-in detection function:

Tested Drives

Average DAE Speed (X)

Pressed

CDR

Sony CRX210E1

10.4

10.3

Sony CRX220E1

10.9

10.5

AOpen CRW5224

26.4

26.4

- Advanced DAE test

All the drives got a "100" score. The DAE speed for
the SONY CRX220E1 is 34.2X , while the AOpen CRW5224 gets the first place with
35.5X.

- AOpen CRW5224

- SONY CRX220E1

- Bad CDR Media results

We used CD DAE software to rip the whole disc (756539616 sectors) to the
hard disk.

Average Speed (X)

Errors

Errors Of Total Disc (%)

Sony CRX210E1

Read error at 88% of total disc

Sony CRX220E1

Read error at 0.2% of total disc

AOpen CRW5224

8.3

177229355

23.43

The condition of the disc can be considered as very bad, so the purpose of
this test is not to get the best results with any read errors, but to estimate
the capabilities of the drive. The SONY CRX-220E1 stops reading few seconds
after start reading (0.2%)! The AOpen CRW5224 locked its reading speed at 8.3X
and ends the test with a high error rate (23.43%), but it managed to end the
process, unlike the SONY drive.

- Ripping 90 and 99mins AudioCDs

Tested drives

Ripping up to

Sony CRX210E1

Can read up to 98 minutes

Sony CRX220E1

Can read up to 98 minutes

AOpen CRW5224

Can read up to 99 minutes

- Reading/Ripping Protected AudioCDs

For the test procedure we used 2 protected AudioCDs, which we
tested in both recognition and ripping (with EAC BURST mode) processes:

The Sony CRX-220E1 uses the "SmartBurn" feature in order to maintain
the best writing quality for the inserted media. The maximum allowed writing
speed is adjusted according to the disc specifications. Nero Burning Rom allows
user to enable/disable the feature in the "choose drive" tab.

When JustSpeed is activated and inserted media is not supported for writing
at the maximum speed, the drive will lower the maximum speed down to 24X. De-activating
JustSpeed will enable writing at the maximum speed.

- Recording Tests

The amount of the data we burned was 704MB (80:01:26), for all the drives.
The SONY CRX220E1 finishes the task first with 149secs (2:29mins) and the AOpen
CRW5224 comes second with 151secs (2:31mins). The Sony CRX-210E1 is slower by
only 7secs!

The above graph shows the recording performance differences of the three tested
drives in all supported speeds. The results are the best we had for each speed.
As we can see the AOpen CRW5224 was the slower drive in almost all-recording
speed except the maximum (52X). Remember that the drive is still under development
and changes will happened towards the retail version. We noticed that the drive
took enough time during the PCA calibration that adds few seconds, else would
probably had even lower recording time(s).

Its interesting that at the 24X writing speed the AOpen uses not P-CAV (23-24X)
but CAV (11-24X) making the drive very slow, slight faster than a 16X CLV drive.
The two SONY drives compete each other and in two recording speeds (16X, 24X)
have the exact same results, while at 32X, 40X, 48X the SONY CRX-210E is faster!

Below is a table that shows the time differences compared to the 16X (CLV) recording
speed for each drive. We also calculated the % difference for each recording
speed (gain in recording time by %).

Recording Speeds

SONY CRX-220E1

AOpen CRW5224

Time difference

% difference

Time difference

% difference

52X

176

54.15

201

57.10

48X

162

49.84

-

-

40X

141

43.38

163

46.31

32X

131

40.31

125

35.51

24X

96

29.54

50

14.20

With an AOpen CRW5224 at 52X (CAV), users will notice the higher difference
compared to the 16X (CLV) since the drive at 16X took extra time to finish the
task. The drive would be 57.10% faster. The SONY CRX-220E1 users will see slight
lower gains, not only in the maximum speed (54.15%) but also in the rest recording
speeds.

- AOpen CRW5224 recording results

- SONY CRX220E1 recording results

The SONY CRX220E1 showed a strange behaviour with several media and only with
one type of media had the best performance (2:29mins)

With several media, the drive when reached 51X (at 97-99%), dropped the writing
speed at either 40X, 32X or even 16X as the following screen shot from Nero
shows. Of course this increases the total recording time up to 2:36-2:45 (depending
the drop of the writing speed). The same effect noticed at also the 48X writing
speed. This shows the interference of SmartBurn in order to protect user from
a bad burn...

- Overburning Tests

The AOpen drive can overburn up to 95 mins, while the SONY drive up to 99mins
without any problems.

- CD-Text Results

Both drives can read/write CD-Text without any problems.

- CloneCD Writing Tests

The CloneCD software reports that the drive supports the DAO-RAW feature.
With the use of proper media, DAO-RAW writing can be performed up to 52X (CAV).
For checking the drive's EFM correction status, we used 3 different game titles
with different SafeDisc 2 versions with the latest software patches installed.
We used each drive as reader/writer at maximum reading/recording speed. Two
discs were burned for each game (Amplify Weak Sectors On/Off). Note that for
the "Sims - Unleashed game title we used PadusDJ as the reading/recording
software, since CloneCD has some problems with the latest SafeDisc builds. The
results are posted in the below table:

Game Title

Tested Drive

SD2 Build

Amplify Weak Sectors On

Amplify Weak Sectors Off

AOpen CRW5224

SONY CRX220E1

AOpen CRW5224

SONY CRX220E1

Max Payne v1.05

Creative 52X
CD-ROM

v.2.50.020

Ok

TEAC 40X
CD-ROM

BTC DV316
DVD-ROM

Serious Sam - The Second Encounter v1.07

Creative 52X
CD-ROM

v.2.60.052

Ok

TEAC 40X
CD-ROM

BTC DV316
DVD-ROM

The Sims - Unleashed

Creative 52X
CD-ROM

v2.80.010

Ok

TEAC 40X
CD-ROM

BTC DV316
DVD-ROM

As you can see, both the Sony and the AOpen drives didn't have any problems
backup SafeDisc v2.5x.xx ~ 2.8x.xx builds. The Amplify Weak Sector function
will not make any difference in that case. It is very interesting that finally
an AOpen drive, that uses RICOH chipsets, can backup the SD2 patterns without
the help of software patch (like the AWS setting)...

8. Writing Quality of AOpen CRW5224

52x
Roundup Vol. 1 - Page 8

Writing Quality Tests
of AOpen CRW5224

We used various media and burn them at the maximum writing speed of 52X,
with JustSpeed On/Off. The writing quality scores are in the following table:

- Firmware 0.91

Brand

JustSpeed Status

C1 Errors

Average Burning Time (mins)

Comments

Max

Average

Prodisc 80min 40X

On

21

0.7

2:34

Off

41

1.6

2:37

SKC 80min 16X

On

25

3.2

2:36

Off

29

4.3

Mitsubishi Chemicals
80min 48X

On

....

....

2:32

C2 errors disc un-readable

Off

....

....

2:29

Ciba Plasmon 80min 48X

On

33

1.5

2:30

Off

29

1.8

2:29

Plextor 80min 48X

On

455

12.9

2:32

Off

504

30.7

2:44

Imation 80min 32X

On

342

24.3

2:32

Off

425

38.3

2:32

Octron 80min 24X

On

55

7.4

2:36

Off

33

3.2

2:31

The AOpen CRW5224 writing quality cannot be judged at this point due to beta
firmware revision (0.91). The above-posted results give a first look. The drive
seems to like most the Prodisc, Ciba Plasmon and partially the Octron (Ritek)
media.

We did notice a bad behaviour with TaiyoYuden and especially with Mitsubishi
Chemicals 48X certified media. The recording times vary according to if JustSpeed
is enabled or disabled. With the Ciba Plasmon 48X media, we had the best results
of 2:29mins.

- C1/C2 Error rate from CibaPlasmon 80min 48X @ 52X (JustSpeed On)

- C1/C2 Error rate from Taiyo Yuden 80min 32X @ 24X (JustSpeed On)

- Firmware 0.95

Brand

JustSpeed Status

C1 Errors

Average Burning Time (mins)

Comments

Max

Average

Prodisc 80min 40X

On

34

1.4

2:32

C2 errors at the end

Off

31

1.4

2:31

SKC 80min 24X

On

19

1.2

2:51

Off

16

1.4

2:34

Mitsubishi Chemicals
80min 48X

On

28

1.5

2:32

Off

27

1.3

2:31

Ciba Plasmon 80min 48X

On

Writing only at 24X

Off

23

1.5

2:31

Taiyo Yuden 80min 32X

On

Writing only at 24X

Off

246

40.1

2:32

RITEK 80min 48X

On

44

1.1

2:36

Off

29

1.1

2:32

The AOpen CRW5224 writing quality was improved with many media, while became
more strict with the inserted media. Now the Ciba Plasmon 48X and TY 32X (and
48X) media cannot be written at 52X with JustSpeed On. The best improvement
is the writing with Mitsubishi Chemicals 48X media. The drive seems not to handle
Prodisc media very well at the last minutes where 50X~51X reached.

- C1/C2 Error rate from Prodisc 80min 40X @ 52X (JustSpeed On)

- C1/C2 Error rate from Prodisc 80min 40X @ 52X (JustSpeed Off)

- C1/C2 Error rate from Taiyo Yuden 80min 32X @ 52X (JustSpeed Off)

We also noted some problems with specific media. In those cases the drive
will stop burning when writing speed exceeds one specific limit as the following
Nero screenshots show

- Imation 48X media

- TDK D-View 24X media

In the following table you can see the manufacturing details of the media
we used for our tests.

Name

Real Manufacturer

ID Code

Capacity

Mitsubishi Chemicals 80min 48x

Mitsubishi Chemicals

97m34s23f

79:59.73

Prodisc 80min 32x

Prodisc

97m32s19f

79:59.74

SanyoDigital 80min 24x

Plasmon

97m27s19f

79:59.74

Octron 80min 24x

Ritek

97m15s17f

79:59.73

Mitsui 80min 40X

Mitsui

97m27s58f

79:59.74

Mitsubishi Chemicals 80min 40x

Mitsubishi Chemicals

97m34s23f

79:59.74

Taiyo Yuden 80min 32X

Taiyo Yuden

97m24s01f

79:59.73

Ciba Plasmon 80min 48X

Plasmon

97m27s18f

79:59.74

Imation 80min 32X

CMC Mangetics

97m26s66f

79:59:74

Plextor 80min 48X

Taiyo Yuden

97m24s01f

79:59.72

9. Writing Quality of SONY CRX220E1

52x
Roundup Vol. 1 - Page 9

Writing Quality Tests
of SONY CRX220E1

We used various media and burn them at the maximum writing speed of 52X,
only with SmartBurn enabled. The writing quality scores are in the following
table:

Brand

JustSpeed Status

C1 Errors

Average Burning Time (mins)

Comments

Max

Average

Prodisc 80min 40X

On

36

1.3

2:34

C2 errors disc

Mitsui SG Ultra 40X

On

18

0.8

2:43

SKC 80min 16X

On

41

7.0

2:39

Mitsubishi Chemicals
80min 48X

On

12

0.5

2:34

Ciba Plasmon 80min 48X

On

40

2.4

2:29

Plextor 80min 48X

On

48

1.9

2:41

Imation 80min 48X

On

32

4.6

2:39

TDK D-VIEW

On

24

1.6

2:38

The SONY CRX-220E1 writing quality with several media can be judged as good.
With specific media the drive performed very well, but with some media caused
C2 errors. The best quality results came from with Mitsubishi Chemicals 48X
certified media (finally a good result from a LiteOn based drive!) while the
best burning results (2:29mins) from Ciba Plasmon 48X media.

In the following table you can see the manufacturing details of the media
we used for our tests.

Name

Real Manufacturer

ID Code

Capacity

Mitsubishi Chemicals 80min 48x

Mitsubishi Chemicals

97m34s23f

79:59.73

Prodisc 80min 40x

Prodisc

97m32s19f

79:59.74

SanyoDigital 80min 24x

Plasmon

97m27s19f

79:59.74

TDK D-VIEW 80min 24x

Ritek

97m15s17f

79:59.73

Mitsubishi Chemicals 80min 40x

Mitsubishi Chemicals

97m34s23f

79:59.74

Ciba Plasmon 80min 48X

Plasmon

97m27s18f

79:59.74

Imation 80min 48X

CMC Mangetics

97m26s66f

79:59:74

Plextor 80min 48X

Taiyo Yuden

97m24s01f

79:59.72

10. RW-Packet Writing Tests

52x
Roundup Vol. 1 - Page 8

RW Writing Tests

Both SONY and the AOpen drive support the new 24X US-RW (CAV) recording technology.
At that US-RW format, the SONY drive supports 10X (CLV), 16X (CLV?) and 24X
(CAV) while the AOpen only 24X (CAV) writing speeds (even specs mention 16X
CAV also). The Plextor PX-W4824A and YAMAHA CRW-F1E support 24X (P-CAV) and
have higher average writing speeds.

For the burning tests, we burned a full 74mins disc with all the drives.
The results are showed in the following chart, in the maximum supported speed
for each drive.

The faster re-writer comes from YAMAHA with only 221secs. The PleXWriter
PX-W4824A follows with 224secs; the AOpen CRW5224 comes third with 290secs and
the SONY CRX-220E1 last with 305secs. In comparison with a HS-RW 12X re-writer
(SONY CRX-210E1) that needs 401secs to end the same task, we can see major performance
difference, especially with the Plextor and Yamaha drives.

Under HS-RW media, we had the following results:

Drive

Writing Time

SONY CRX220E1

402

AOpen CRW5224

409

- 24X US-RW writing results

- Packet Writing Tests

We used Ahead InCD v3.5.16 for the packet writing tests. The new design of
InCD seems interesting:

The formatted disc had 534 MB of free space. We copied a 403 MB file (403.147
kbs) from a Hard Disk (on the same PC as the writers) to the formatted RW media
using Windows Explorer (we dragged and dropped) and we completed the test more
than once, to eliminate any possible time measurement faults and user errors.

As was expected the YAMAHA and Plextor drive leads the packet writing tests.
The AOpen drive comes third and the SONY drive forth at the writing part. At
the reading part, there is a change since the AOpen and SONY drives get the
first two places. With HS-RW media, the AOpen is faster than the Sony drive
as the following results show:

Drive

Average Writing Speed (X)

Average Reading Speed (X)

SONY CRX220E1

8.58

20.45

AOpen CRW5224

8.67

24.37

11. Mt. Rainier Tests

52x
Roundup Vol. 1 - Page 11

Mt. Rainier Tests

- InCD Tests

For testing the Mt. Rainier performance, we used was InCD v3.15.16 by Ahead
Software. After the format process, we immediately started the recording process
(drag & drop). When the drive finished, we started the reading process back
to the HD. The AOpen CRW5224 performed very low since the writing taken up to
28mins, while the reading performed at full speed...

Drive

Average Writing Speed (X)

Average Reading Speed (X)

YAMAHA
CRW-F1DX

12X HS-RW

7.08

20.31

24X US-RW

12.7

20.89

PleXWriter PX-W4824A

10X HS-RW

6.36

16.60

24X US-RW

12.80

16.13

SONY CRX220E1

12X HS-RW

8.27

19.75

24X US-RW

10.61

19.75

AOpen CRW5224

12X HS-RW

1.35

22.46

24X US-RW

2.25

23.14

- EasyWrite tests

- Introduction

The Philips Easy Write tests checks the quality level of the Mt Rainier implementation.
Both drives did accept the EasyWrite test suite commands so we had the chance
to test their performance.

- Basic Command Test Results

Below are the test results using MRW PartA v1.60 validation script.

Tests

AOpen CRW5224

SONY CRX-220E1

Mandatory Startup Basic Command Set

MRW Feature

Passed

Passed

SMART Feature

Supported Profiles

Mode Sense Pages

Background Format

Minimal Blank

Check Format Capacity for Mode 24 Hex

Format Unit

Read Disc Information

FAILED : Disc Type is Mode 2 Form 1 XA
Disc : Failed

Check Write Mode Page

Not Yet Implemented !

Set Write Mode Page Parameters

Passed

Passed

Test GAA Addressing

Set GAA Area Addressing

Passed

Passed

Write Data Outside GAA Area

Write Data Inside GAA Area

Synchronize Cache

Read Data Inside GAA Area

Verify Data Inside GAA Area

Set DMA Area Addressing

Read/Write in Ice

Read Track Info

Passed

Passed

Write in Iced Area (Address = 128205
- Blocks = 236)

Synchronize Cache

Read & Verify Iced Area (Address
= 128205 - Blocks = 236)

Early Eject

Eject Disc with Background Format in
Progress

Passed

Passed

Close Track/Session

Eject Disc

Script Validation Time

00 Hours 06 Minutes 00 Seconds 749 MSec

00 Hours 04 Minutes 46 Seconds 041 MSec

Both the AOpen CRW5224 and the SONY CRX-220E1 passed the "Basic Command
Test". The AOpen CRW5224 did failed in a subtest (Background Format->Read
Disc Information: FAILED : Disc Type is Mode 2 Form 1 XA Disc), however the
test suite said the drive succefuly passed it.

- Light/Heavy Rock'N'Roll Tests (Normal HS-RW Media)

Below are the test results using the Light & Heavy Rock'N'Roll validation
scripts. The AOpen CRW5224 completed the Light RnR script while failed at the
Heavy RnR. The SONY CRX-220E1 failed to complete the Light R&R while passes
the Heavy R&R.

Tests

AOpen CRW5224

SONY CRX-220E1

Light R&R

Ok!

FE

Light R&R Test Duration

02 Hours 54 Minutes 31 Seconds 522 MSec

00 Hours 17 Minutes 29 Seconds 429 MSec

Heavy R&R

FE

Ok!

Heavy R&R Test Duration

00 Hours 47 Minutes 12 Seconds 216 MSec

02 Hours 20 Minutes 13 Seconds 849 MSec

Remarks:
Time: hours:mins:secs:msecs
FE = Fatal Error

- Light/Heavy Rock'N'Roll Tests (Defect HS-RW Media)

Below are the test results using the Light & Heavy Rock'N'Roll validation
scripts. The SONY CRX-220E1 failed to complete the Light R&R while passes
the Heavy R&R. The AOpen CRW5224 on the other hand, passes the Light RnR
while fails at the Heavy RnR script.

12. Conclusion

52x
Roundup Vol. 1 - Page 12

Conclusion

While most users now have the chance to buy a 48X recorder, the need for faster
recording may change their mind to wait until the next generation of 52X recorders
arrive. Certainly we can say that the 52X recording platform has not much to
offer compared with the existing 48X recorders, only few lesser seconds with
the use of specific media. As the test showed, in most cases even 32X media
cannot be used for 48X/52X recording, but shortly expected most media manufacturers
to ship 52X media to the market. In our tests, we used mostly 48X media, since
till today, no 52X media exists or sold, at least to our knowledge...

On the other hand, the 24X US-RW format has something to offer mainly to users
that use re-writeable media to everyday storage. The increased re-writing speed
will lower the burning time. However the implementation of US-RW that both drives
follow, doesn't offer much higher performance than existing 16X CLV re-writers
(CyberDrive CW088D, ASUS CRW4816A). The Plextor PX-W4824A and Yamaha CRW-F1
series are the only two tested drives that offer near to 24X CLV re-writing
speeds due to their 24X P-CAV recording technology.

Lastly, the 52X reading speed, may give faster results but also produces high
noise and vibrations compared with the 40X reading speed that may trouble user.
Both the AOpen and SONY 52X drive face that problem by offering the 52X reading
speed only under the 'Turbo' mode.

We hoped this (p)-review showed users what should expect from two 52X upcoming
drives. As soon as, the retail versions arrive, we plan to re-test and post
our final thoughts. Stay tuned for more 52X reviews in the near future. Who
ever thinks his recorder is the fast, may reconsider it. 52X recorders are just
around the corner... :)